White feminists appropriated feminism while hooks reclaims it for all people

Evidence

It is a contradiction that white females have structured a women’s liberation movement that is racist and excludes many non-white women. However, the existence of that contradiction should not lead any woman to ignore feminist issues. Oftentimes I am asked by black women to explain why I would call myself a feminist and by using that term ally myself with a movement that is racist. I say, “The question we must ask again and again is how can racist women call themselves feminists.” It is obvious that many women have appropriated feminism to serve their own ends, especially those white women who have been at the forefront of the movement; but rather than resigning myself to this appropriation I choose to re-appropriate the term “feminism,” to focus on the fact that to be “feminist” in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 564

Categorization

• SEED: The question ‘how can racist women call themselves feminists’ could anchor an essay on ownership and authenticity of political labels.
• XREF: connects to: White feminists appropriated slave suffering to advance their own cause. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 368; White feminist organizing surged in reaction to black men gaining rights. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 366; White feminists’ self-victimization rhetoric served their opportunistic interests — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 421 (+16 more)

Related

• White women appropriated feminism to gain entry into American capitalism. (similarity 0.89)
• Adopting feminist rhetoric did not free white feminists from sexist-racist attitudes. (similarity 0.89)
• White feminists appropriated slave suffering to advance their own cause. (similarity 0.89)
• A racist and classist feminism merely perpetuates women’s bondage to patriarchy. (similarity 0.88)
• White feminist organizing surged in reaction to black men gaining rights. (similarity 0.88)
• White dominance in feminism reflects racial imperialism, not black disinterest (similarity 0.88)
• White feminists pursued work rights only for white women workers (similarity 0.87)
• White women’s rights appeals exploited racism against black men (similarity 0.87)
• White women’s linguistic erasure of black women served their own political interests (similarity 0.86)
• White feminists’ self-victimization rhetoric served their opportunistic interests (similarity 0.86)
• Black women needed a separate feminist intellectual tradition (similarity 0.85)
• Early black feminists were isolated from both black communities and the white feminist movement (similarity 0.85)
• Black women rejected the movement’s execution, not feminism’s ideology. (similarity 0.85)
• The women’s rights movement exposed white women’s refusal to surrender white supremacy. (similarity 0.85)
• White feminists excluded black women by analogy rather than overt discrimination (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Some feminists appropriated the movement to serve individual careers rather than collective change #expands (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 551
• hooks deliberately wrote accessible feminist theory for non-college readers #expands (0.60)
• White feminists dismissed race talk to preserve a unified sisterhood #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 16
• White feminists pursued work rights only for white women workers #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 387
• White women’s linguistic erasure of black women served their own political interests #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 416
• White dominance in feminism reflects racial imperialism, not black disinterest #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 464
• Adopting feminist rhetoric did not free white feminists from sexist-racist attitudes. #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 39
• Feminism must combat domination across sex, race, and class, not just male chauvinism #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 562
• White feminists dismissed black women’s attention to racial difference #expands (0.60)
• Non-oppressed women sustain a reformist, racist, classist feminism without urgency #expands (0.60) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 556
• White men set the terms of women’s liberation and exploit inter-group competition #expands (0.50) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 454
• White women allied with white men on shared racism against Black women #expands (0.50) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 119
• Racial alliances superseded feminist solidarity between black and white women #expands (0.50) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 507
• White feminists excluded black women by analogy rather than overt discrimination #expands (0.50) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 420
• Liberation modeled on white male power inherently divides women from each other. #expands (0.50) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 456